A large-eddy simulation analysis of collective wind farm axial-induction set points in the presence of blockage

<p>Over the past few years, numerous studies have shown the detrimental impact of flow blockage on wind farm power production. In the present work, we investigate the benefits of a simple collective axial-induction set point strategy for power maximization and load reduction in the presence of...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: T. Delvaux, J. Meyers
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2025-03-01
Series:Wind Energy Science
Online Access:https://wes.copernicus.org/articles/10/613/2025/wes-10-613-2025.pdf
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Summary:<p>Over the past few years, numerous studies have shown the detrimental impact of flow blockage on wind farm power production. In the present work, we investigate the benefits of a simple collective axial-induction set point strategy for power maximization and load reduction in the presence of blockage. To this end, we perform a series of large-eddy simulations (LESs) over a wind farm consisting of 100 IEA 15 <span class="inline-formula">MW</span> turbines and build wind farm power and thrust coefficient curves under three different conventionally neutral boundary layers and one truly neutral boundary layer. As a result of the large-scale effects, we show that the wind farm power and thrust coefficient curves deviate significantly from those of an isolated turbine. We carry out a trade-off analysis and determine that, while the optimal thrust set point is still correctly predicted by the Betz limit under wake-only conditions, it shifts towards lower operating regimes under strong blockage conditions. In such cases, we observe a minor power increase with respect to the Betz thrust set point, accompanied by a load reduction of about 5 %. More interestingly, we show that for some conditions the loads can be reduced by up to 19 %, at the expense of a power decrease of only 1 %.</p>
ISSN:2366-7443
2366-7451